Gears of Love
by AR Studios
Summary: A side story to A Hundred Ladies, this isn't a TarmaXEri fanfiction... but a TarmaX?. Read to find out who ? is.
1. Chapter 1

_**This is a side story to my last one, A Hundred Ladies. The last one was focused on General Blackout, this time, let us see what our heroes were doing at the same time….**_

**And I don't own any of the Meta Slug characters. They are owned by **_**SNK Playmore.**_

Chapter 1: A lovely discovery

Tarma and Marco were brawling over the cheating Marco had done in Age of Mythology The Titans. The situation was definitely spinning out of control as Tarma tossed chairs at Marco, and he tried to smack Tarma with a baseball bat. The fight was at its peak when they both pulled out their handguns and shot at one another. Even though they missed, Marco saw how serious the fight had become.

"Tarma! Stop!" Marco raised his hands in the air, "It's Valentine's Day! Don't you at least wanna find a Valentine to spend the day with?" Tarma put down his AR-10 rifle loaded with Laser Shots, slapped his forehead, and said, "I totally forgot!" They both walked out of the lounge and into the Quarters, and were surprised to see Trevor talking to General Blackout. Ignoring them, the two men walked into the hallways.

"So let me guess," Marco said with a tone of calmness (as if the brawl had never happened), "You want Eri as your Valentine this year?" "Yep," Tarma said with a crooked grin, "and this time I have decided to use the same method you used last year to woo Fio." Marco still remembered that technique last year; he stood by the doorway, leaning against it coolly, then threw Fio a rose and said, "4 o clock," and Fio and Marco went on Valentine's Day together. They were several feet away from the door leading to the SPARROWS quarters, when Marco said, "I'll stay here, because, when you get close to Eri, in distance, something disastrous always happens.

"That's not true!" Tarma protested.

The door swung open, and the three ladies, Fio, Eri, and Nadia turned their heads. Standing by the doorway was Tarma Roving III, looking as cool as he could be with his back slumped on the doorway. He then pulled a rose out of thin air. Fio and Nadia turned their heads toward Eri, who was blushing.

"Four o clock," Tarma said. And he threw the rose towards the Eri. The rose flew through the air, and lightly touched Eri on the nose…. and stayed there. Everybody kept looking. The rose had definitely stopped on Eri's nose. And her nose began bleeding! "AAAH!" She screamed, "The thorn got stuck on my nose!" IF you don't know, roses have thorns, and that's exactly why the rose stuck to Eri's nose. "I'll pull it off!" Tarma said, panicked. There was no way she was gonna forgive for this. He tried to jerk on the rose, but it seemed to have glued itself to Eri's nose. She let out more squeals of pain. "Tarma, let's split man!" Marco said, poking his head in.

**Drill Instructor Quarters**

"Gosh is it boring," Lily said. "Talk about it," Cynthia said, as she brushed her hair in front of the mirror. "Where's Mary?" "I haven't seen her all day," Lily replied. "Maybe she went out or something," Cynthia suggested, then with a sigh said, "Do I wish something would happen…"

The door burst open, Tarma ducked underneath the bed, and Marco slammed the door shut, and pushing a dresser and a four poster bed to the door. "Oh hey ladies," Marco said, turning his head, "Can we stay here for, I don't know, a few days?"

"Speak of the devil," Cynthia commented, "Sorry but this place is off limits. And what are you two running from?"

"Tarma got a rose's thorn stuck on Eri's nose," Marco blurted out. Both Cynthia and Lily gasped. "And you survived?" Lily asked. "Got away on time," Tarma said from under the bed, "I don't think she's going to forgive me for that." "I don't think so either," Cynthia agreed, "Eri's just too aggressive for that."

"Agreed," Ralf Jones said poking his head in through the window, and scaring the shit out of everyone. "Ralf, what the hell are you doing?!" Tarma demanded, since the scare caused him to jump and his head hit the roof of the bed he was hiding under. "You guys… have got… to see… this…" Ralf said, slowly and excitedly. He then put his head out of the window, and everybody climbed out of it. They then looked to the right, and saw something that made them gasp.

Clark Still, Ralf's partner and brother-in-arm, was holding a net, and the net contained a person. This person was 5 inches shorter than the average human, was wearing armor of amazing quality, since it was so shiny and the design was simply remarkable. He had a bow and a quiver. But the most unique thing about this man was his angel-like wings.

"What… is that?" Marco sputtered. "I don't know," Clark said, "We-" "Whoa whoa whoa," Ralf said, raising his hand in the air, "whoa. What's with the 'I?' We're the Ikari Warriors man! There's no 'I.' Only we. _We _don't know what it is," Ralf said, smiling and showing his teeth awkwardly. (LAME).

"Uh huh," Cynthia said, confused, "and how did you catch it?" "I'm a HIM, for your information," the armored man said in an agitated tone. Ralf and Clark were taken aback by this. "No way, it talks?" Clark said, impressed. "Of course I talk!" The man said, "What did you expect? Would somebody please free me from these two muscleheads?"

"We're right here you know…" Ralf said.

"Are you Cupid?" Marco asked, getting excited. "Nah, I'm a Cupix," the Cupix said, "a co-worker for Cupid. There are at least ten thousand of us. Our job is exactly as Cupid does; spreading love," he said, and spread his hands out. "We're human beings granted with this job." "Humans? You're human?" Lily asked. "Not anymore," the Cupix said, "Now would you PLEASE let me go?" "Not until you hit Leona with a love arrow!" Ralf said. "Dude, I though we discussed that I was going out with her," Clark snorted. "Well I've changed my mind," Ralf spat, and shouted at the Cupix, "now shoot her with an arrow!"

"No!" Clark said, and let go of the net and lunged at Ralf (what girls can do to friendships of boys…) and the Cupix broke free and shouted, "Freedom!" He then jumped in the air, but his wings were still entangled in the net, and he fell with a loud CLANK. "Wait!" Tarma said, and leapt right on top of the Cupix, "Could you please do me one solid favor?" The Cupix, disgusted, said, "All right, all right, now get off!"

**A few minutes later**

The Cupix sat, cross-legged. He had drawn a pattern right in front of him in thin air with a finger, and he sat there, meditating. Everybody (Marco, Tarma, Lily, Cynthia, Ralf, and Clark) stood several feet away. The Cupix started saying some unintelligible words. The pattern then grew brighter.

"What are we doing this for again?" Ralf asked Marco. "Well, we're looking for the right Valentine for Tarma, so this guy is gonna help us out," Marco explained.

"Because I doubt Eri would want him for her Valentine after what happened."

The pattern then kept glowing brighter, and brighter, and brighter, until the Cupix shouted, "Wolololololo!" and there was a bright flash. When that was over, everybody saw the pattern had disappeared. In it's place was a note. Marco was the first one to pick it up, said, "She is the perfect Valentine!" reading the name on the paper. He then passed it to Cynthia, who passed it to Lily, who passed it to Ralf, who passed it to Clark. They all agreed that whoever's name was written on the note was indeed Tarma's Valentine.

Clark then gave it to Tarma. He then read the name on it, and dropped the note. _Of course, _he thought. But his legs then got wobbly. The Cupix was probably right. Let me tell you one thing. The name on the note wasn't Eri Kasamoto (obviously). It was the name of an engineer who had appeared in the Metal Slug mobile series. Don't know it yet? Let me tell you than.

The name on the note was Alisa Stewart.

**And that's the end of chapter 1! Stay tuned for Chapter 2!**

**What do you think about my TarmaXAlisa idea? Please write in the reviews.**


	2. Chapter 2

**And so here is chapter 2! Read, enjoy, and review!**

**And I don't own any of the Metal Slug characters blah blah blah.**

Chapter 2: When engineers meet

"I think there's been a mistake," Tarma said. "There is no mistake; the Sacrelover (the weird pattern in the last chapter) is always right," the Cupix said sternly. "But, I barely know Alisa!" Tarma protested, "And even the Metal Slug Wiki on the internet has little to no information on her!" "But Tarma," Clark interrupted, "You two have a lot in common. Cupix is right." "Well," Lily said, "You'll have to ask her out."

Tarma's legs then wobbled so violently that he dropped to the floor, sat on his knees, and clutched his stomach. "Hey Marco?"

"Yeah?"

"What's that weird feeling called again when you can't ask a girl out even when you want to?"

Marco then pointed at Tarma and said," Tarma… you're getting NERVOUS!"

"Wait," Cynthia tried to clear it up, "So you're telling me that Tarma LIKED Alisa if he's nervous?"

"Totally," Ralf said. He then lifted up Tarma like a rag doll, and said, "Come on lover boy, time for you to meet your new girlfriend."

"She's not my new girlfriend!" Tarma shouted, and tried to break free of Ralf, but Ralf was one of the Regular Army's strongest powerhouses, so it's not surprising that Tarma couldn't break free of his diamond grip (diamond grip is stronger than iron grip). Marco and Clark followed, amused at the situation.

"There's goes today's entertainment," Cynthia sighed. Sooner than she thought. The door burst open again, and this time, Trevor ran into the room, slammed the door shut, boarded some planks against the door, and turned towards the drill instructors, who were shocked to see his condition. His hair was unruly and in a complete mess, his clothes were dusty, and somebody had apparently used a board marker over his face, drawing the spectacles and moustache design. On his forehead was written 'Jackass.'

"Oh hey ladies," he said, "Can I stay here for, I don't know, a few days?"

"Is there this much drama here?" The Cupix asked. "Yeah," Lily replied, "You'll get used to it."

**The garage**

Alisa was repairing a Slugnoid, a roofless, robot-like armor that had a tank's cannon and twin Vulcan cannons. It was designed especially for rough terrain and in cases where jumping means everything since the rocket boosters on its back weren't for flying; they were for leaping large distances. Four people than came into garage. She looked up and saw that it was Marco, Ralf, and Clark and…

"Tarma!" She said in a delighted tone, "How glad am I to see you!" "Uh… so am I…" Tarma said nervously, which she noticed. "Is something wrong?" she asked. "I…. uh…." Tarma sputtered, too afraid to say it. "Come on Tarma," Ralf said, elbowing him, "We're waiting." Tarma's legs had turned to jelly, as if he had Rickets. And then, to everyone's horror, Tarma actually wet his pants. "OMG," Ralf gasped. "This'll leave a bad impression…." Clark commented. "Tarma, if you wanted to go to the bathroom, why didn't you say so?" Marco demanded. Tarma then noticed that Alisa was staring at him in shock. And amusement.

"Right. Alisa would you be my Valentine for today?" Tarma then asked. She stared at him, and blushed. "Why… of course," She said, her face turning red. Tarma Roving had asked her out. THE Tarma Roving III himself. The famed engineer. Could this day get any better?

There was a rush of relief over Tarma's face. "Oh thank god," he sighed. "See you at seven," he said. Both engineers turned around at the same time. The four gentlemen then exited the garage. "Way to go Tarma!" Marco said, giving Tarma a high five. "Now that's over," Clark said, and demanded, "now go and change your pants!"

**7 o' clock**

"So what's gonna be your transport?" Marco asked, "A motorcycle? High chance of death on accident." Tarma was wearing full sleeves, high collared shirt of which the top part was black, the lower part was blue, and the sleeves were black, and blue jeans. Simply wow. "I've arranged that," Tarma said with a grin. He then pulled out a remote, and pressed the red button. A loud _vroom_ came, and Marco turned his head. His jaw dropped to the floor.

It was an Enzo Ferrari racing car. With the original red color! "That's not all," Tarma said, and pressed another button, and the back part of the Ferrari opened up, and pulled out a large tank cannon. The wheels popped out spikes, and two Vulcan cannons popped out of the roof. "Behold! My masterpiece! The Ferrari Slug!" Tarma said with an imperious voice, "Isn't she a beauty?" Marco was too spellbound to say anything. Never had he seen anything more awesome. "How…did you…" he said, and Tarma interrupted, "I just used a little imagination and the right parts to build it. Took me a year to build it since its private. No one knows about it." He then pressed the green button on the remote, and the Ferrari Slug turned back into a Ferrari.

There was a noise of footsteps, and both men turned around. "Whoa…" Tarma remarked.

Alisa was wearing a blue shirt, whose sleeves were quite large. She had brown pants on that reached to her kneecaps. She was still wearing her engineer's hat.

"So…." She asked, "Where are we going?" Tarma then said, "Why, to the Robuchon Chateaux of course, one of the best places in Tokyo." "All right," she said with a smile, "And we're going there in a Ferrari?" she noticed the car standing. "Yep," Tarma said, "so let's go."

**And that's that for Chapter 2! Chapter 3, coming up next, only on ! So what do you think? Pretty good so far? Please review.**


	3. Chapter 3

_**And ARStudios is live again! Bringing in our latest chapter of Gears of Love, a TarmaXAlisa story. As the old saying goes, read, like and review!**_

_**And all the Metal Slug characters are property of SNK Playmore. But the Ferrari Slug is mine. ALL MINE!**_

Chapter 3: Disastrous date

Tarma walked over to the Ferrari Slug, when he noticed Alisa wasn't following. She was standing, with her arms folded. "Aren't you gonna escort me?" she said grumpily. "Huh?" Tarma said, confused. Then he realized what she meant. She actually wanted him to take her to the car with his arms linked with hers. It's only been a few minutes and she's already takin' it to the limit! Tarma thought.

"All right," He said, and linked his arms with hers. Now she seemed happier. Tarma just hoped none of the SPARROWS saw him. He shouldn't have thought that, because then Fio came out of nowhere and ran up to Marco and said, "So Marco, where…. Oh, my…..gosh….." She said, as she laid here eyes on the engineering couple. Tarma tried to hide his face, but Fio chanted, "Tarma and Alisa sitting on a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" and laughed her ass off. "Yeah, really funny," Tarma spat. "Well, let's go!" Alisa said, and pulled Tarma towards the Ferrari Slug.

**En route **

Tarma drove, with his full concentration on the road. He had a really tough time concentrating on driving when Alisa was staring at him. "Is there a problem?" he asked. "It's just that…" Alisa replied, "the way how you're driving hunched…"

So THAT'S why his back hurt! No wonder!

He then sat more relaxed. Alisa then thought of something, and without Tarma noticing, she laid her hand on his lap. "What are you doing?!" Tarma screamed, turning his head towards Alisa.

"TARMA KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE GODDAMN ROAD!"

Tarma then turned his eyes towards the road, and screamed, "Jesus Christ!" as he slammed, at 35 km/h, right into a rebel soldier. The soldier was knocked 25 feet into the air, slammed back on the asphalt road, and stood up and said, "Hah you Regular Army suckas! I'm still alive!" Almost as a coincidence, a Russian WWII tank came out of nowhere and steamrolled the poor man.

**At the Robuchon Chateaux**

The Ferrari Slug was parked right smack on top of a 'No Parking' area. The couple walked through the gates, and proceeded towards the Chateaux. The place was comparable to a French Chateau, even though it was a restaurant. Couples would come her for dinner, and take a walk in the beautiful long gardens. At exactly 7:15 pm, the engineers entered inside the chateaux. The whole place was like a 5 Star hotel. The chandeliers were of the best A1 quality, the designs were simply marvelous, but the noticeable thing was that it was kinda crowded.

Reserving a table for two, Tarma sat at his chair and stared at the blue haired gal sitting in front of him. There was something about her. Something that kept bugging him. It was a feeling. Not just any feeling. He had wanted to show this feeling to Eri. But she wouldn't listen. She never did. She was ignorant and cruel, and had hurt Tarma's feelings. Many times.

Yet, he still kept it for her, like a special gift. But now, he could feel it not wanting Eri anymore, but the girl sitting in front of him. The feeling wanted her alone. He could remember that when he slammed into the rebel, Alisa actually held him tightly, ducked her head on his chest, and screamed out loud. He was at that time so close to her face. When she put her head up, he then saw her beautiful, watery eyes.

Maybe that's what did it.

"Anyone home?" the waiter said and knocked on Tarma's head like a door. Tarma was staring at Alisa with his mouth open, and his drool all over the table, creeping her out. Tarma regained his senses and took his menu from the waiter. He then gave it to Alisa who gave her order to the waiter. Tarma then, without thinking, said, "I'll have what the lady's having." Oh noes! The feeling was taking control of his brain!

Alisa blushed at the 'lady' part. When the waiter was gone, she then said to Tarma, "Are you sure?" "About what?" Tarma asked. "Well, I ordered a golden plated lobster, and it was kinda expensive…" But Tarma wasn't listening. Without thinking, he had said that he wanted what Alisa wanted, lobster. Well there was nothing wrong with the price.

It was just that Tarma was ALLERGIC to lobster.

So when the dishes arrived, he gulped, and started choking it down. He continuously struggled to breathe as the allergy started taking away his breath. "I'm gonna die like this!" He thought desperately. "Tarma, what's happening to your face?!" Alisa asked, as she saw his face was starting to swell. His cheeks, his nose, and other parts of his face. "What? Nothing!" he said through his swollen mouth.

The waiter came back, and was shocked to see his condition. "Uh…. The bill is 10,450 yen monsieur," the waiter said. Tarma then put his hand into his pocket. And he couldn't feel his wallet. The shock actually stopped and even cured the swelling. Tarma turned his head around at the people sitting nearby. "Somebody's taken my wallet!" he said to the waiter. The waiter seemed uninterested. Tarma then laid his eyes upon Marco and Fio, who were sitting a few tables way. He then angrily got up and stomped up to Fio.

Fio noticed him, but didn't say anything. "Fio, give me back my wallet," Tarma spat. Fio then wiped her face with a napkin, and he expected her to lie, when she said in a completely plain tone, "Eri took it."

The name went like a pistol shrimp's sonic blast through him. Tarma then shouted, "Eri get out of your hiding spot!" A ninja then leapt down from the ceiling, causing everyone to gasp. The ninja pulled off her mask, and Eri stood there, her arms folded. "Very funny Eri," Tarma said, "now give me my wallet back." "Hmmmm…." She said, "no. Do you really think I'm going to forgive you after you got that rose thorn stuck in my rose and ran off?!" Now everyone was looking at them. Even Walter and Tyra were here, and were looking at them.

"I said I was sorry!" Tarma reminded her, but she kept on, "Fio had to pull out the thorn, but it still hurt anyway! And only a while later, I had to do makeup for General Blackout, and the powder flying around caused severe irritation! And it scratched, causing more pain! I will never forget! You hear me? I will never forget the day you Tarma Roving III got a rose thorn stuck in my nose!"

"I said I was sorry you *****!" Tarma blurted out before he could stop himself. Fio and Alisa gasped. Marco said, "Oh boy…" Walter and Tyra were on the edge of fainting. Did Tarma… just call ERI the 'B' word? Because if you ever pull that off brothers and sisters, then trust me, you'll find out if whether or not there is such a thing as an afterlife in seconds.

Eri's face twisted in rage. She pulled out a grenade and a monolith, and was about to kill Tarma with these, when the ceiling blew up. Surprisingly (or NOT surprisingly) the debris crushed tables and chairs, but no one got hurt, except Eri, on whose head a large chunk of boulder knocked her unconscious. As the smoke cleared, Alisa opened her eyes, and saw Tarma was holding her to protect her from the falling debris. This caused her face to go red.

Everybody looked up to see what had caused the ceiling to explode. Holy cow! It was a Martian Dai-Manji! These heavily armored, flying ships, shaped like basket balls with rings similar to Saturn, were pretty big and armed with Mini-UFO's and dark energy spheres.

**On board the Dai-Manji**

"All right sir," A Martian said to a White Martian (these guys were superior officers) , "PF targets are in sight!"

"Excellent," the White Martian said, "Pull out the attractor beam!"

"Yes sir!"

**Back on ground**

Everybody panicked when the bottom part of the Dai-Manji opened up, and a small light appeared. Tarma knew what it was. "An attractor beam! They're going to pull us up into it!" he shouted. All the people, except Marco, Fio, Walter and Tyra, ran off screaming like little girls. The light then shot out straight at Tarma and Alisa.

"We're going to be abducted!" Alisa screamed.

But they didn't get abducted. The light was right on top of them. So, why weren't they floating? It's because Trevor had hopped into the scene from nowhere. Tarma noticed that somebody had used a board marker over his face, making the spectacles and moustache design, and had written 'Jackass' on his forehead. Trevor wasn't panicking though. He actually kept his cool and said, "Look at me! I'm going to be the first Korean to be abducted b aliens!" and he did the guitar man imitation, rock n rolling on an invisible guitar.

Another person entered the scene on a Walking Machine. It was an enraged Nadia. "Trevor Spacey, hold it right there!" she screamed out loud and hopped off the Machine and dashed, and with unbelievable accuracy, leapt and caught Trevor by the legs. She then started pulling with all her force.

**Inside the Dai-Manji**

"Sir we have a problem!" A Martian said to the White Martian. "What is it?" he asked.

"Another force is pulling on the PF dude we're trying to abduct. We don't know what it is, but it's far stronger than ours!" the Martian said.

"Well then," the White Martian replied, "PUT MORE POWER INTO THE BEAM!"

Lord it was quite a tug of war! Nadia Cassel pulled with all her might while the Dai-Manji struggled to pull both Trevor and Nadia. Then the Dia-Manji started moving upwards (Cheating!). Suddenly, a Brown Martian (second senior most rank) came to the White Martian and said, "The engine's almost out of gas!" "What?!" the White Martian sputtered, "Didn't we fill it up on the last fueling station we stopped at?!" The Brown Martian replied, "Uh…no… but at least I bought snacks!" and he showed a bottle of Pepsi and a large bag of potato chips.

Normally, large things that fly start falling slowly and then pick up speed in midair. However, since Nadia was pulling on Trevor, creating pressure on him, which traveled through the attractor beam and into the Dai-Manji, the ship kissed the ground at an incredible speed of 145 mph. There was a lot of smoke, and when it cleared, Marco saw the White Martian crawl out, and shout, "ATTACK!" And after this, a firefight started between the heroes, who had snuck weapons with them, and the Martians, and the music **Entering the Stronghold, by a musician whose name I forgot**, started.

EPILOGUE

Tarma and Alisa sat together on a bench, with a fountain in front of them. Tarma was just staring at the fountain. Alisa was staring at him. Here it was, the perfect place for him to say it, she thought. So why the heck wasn't he saying it?

"Hey Tarma?" she asked. Tarma craned his head and said lazily, "Yeeeeeeah?" "Don't you like me?" she asked. "Well, yeah…" Tarma answered. "And aren't you gonna say thank you?" she asked, irritated. During the firefight, she saved Tarma's butt at least 4 times. "Right, sorry. Thanks," he said clumsily.

Alisa then sighed. Maybe she had been right. Tarma didn't like her one bit. He just liked that totally destructive, uncreative, cruel Eri. Not her. Perhaps this whole date had been pointless. But then why did he ask her out?

"So you don't like me," she said with a sigh, and stood up to leave. Tarma felt like a total jerk. She had saved his life at least 4 times, so why didn't he say thank you before? She couldn't leave right now! Not when Eri was out for his blood…

He then felt what was like an arrow piercing into his heart. The feeling was horribly stinging. Alisa then took one step, and Tarma grabbed her and said, "Please don't leave! I just need to say something!" Alisa turned her head. "The thing is…." Tarma said, pieced together what he was about to say, and blurted it all out, "I love you! And if I got separated from you by an army of rebel soldiers, I would beat the crap out of them all ,like Ralf, and tear their tanks apart and sell the pieces to end global poverty, all that to get to you!" (Sort of an exaggeration really).

Alisa turned tomato red, and then scarlet red. "Y-y-yo- you really mean it?" She stuttered. Tarma held her hands and said, "Yes. Sorry I didn't mention it before." He then sat down and seated Alisa on her lap. Alisa blushed even harder. "Will you forgive me if I've been too… cold towards you?" Tarma asked. Alisa wrapped her arms around Tarma and said, "Yes I do." He smiled. She smiled. They both shared a kiss. Alisa then snuggled her head on Tarma's chest. Tarma looked up, and saw an angel-like figure flying 50 feet above them. He could see it was wearing armor, and had a bow in it's hand. He then thought 3 words:

_Thank you Cupix._

The end.

_**And that is the end. So how was my TarmaXAlisa fanfiction? Please review your opinions, and thanks for reading!**_


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